Mike Dargas was born in 1983 in Cologne, Germany. Alongside his first drawings, he began making oil paintings from a young age, which he sold to friends of his mother. At age eleven, Mike Dargas exhibited his talent publicly, drawing old masters paintings with pastel and chalk on the pavement in front of the infamous Cologne cathedral. He then got accepted to an art school, from which he graduated after a year and a half, the only child in a class of adults. There, he learned different techniques, and received a training that led him to master three dimensional arts, like wooden sculptures. In his early twenties, he built himself a solid reputation in the tattoo scene and won numerous prizes and awards.
Inspired by artists such as Dali, Caravaggio and HR Giger, Mike Dargas studied various techniques and since his youth developed a passion for realism, which he narrowed down over the years to hyperrealism.
The extremely precise technique with oil paint gives, like photography, a snapshot of the moment. Mike studies his subjects with such intensity, that each portrait pictures a profile of increasing intimate closeness. In his portraits, he's not limited to certain types. He paints young and old, beautiful and dark, fragile and strong people. They are lost in their thoughts, show inner conflict or convey a unique or even holy calmness. The perfection of his technique serves his goal to tend towards the perfect image, reaching for the soul within every single one. Through his works, Mike Dargas challenges us to take a closer look, to understand the nature of human beings and to question our own emotional perception.
Mike lives and works in Los Angeles.
EXHIBITONS
2019 C24 Gallery, New York (solo)
2019 HOFA Gallery, Mykonos, Greece
2019 Maddox Gallery, London
2019 Opera Gallery, Singapore
2019 Opera Gallery, London
2019 Art Angels Gallery, Los Angeles
2018 Opera Gallery, Hong Kong, C (solo)
2017 C24 Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
2016 Opera Gallery, London, UK (solo)
2015 Enric Miralles meets Mike Dargas, Palau de Casavells, ES 2015 Mike Dargas – Malerei, Ponyhof Gallery, Munich, DE (solo) 2015 Opera Gallery, London, UK
2014 Neue Photokunst & Friends, Galerie Display, Cologne, DE 2013 Freud lässt grüßen, Galerie Atelier I.S., Walhorn, BE
FAIRS
2019 Texas Contemporary, Art Angels, Texas, USA
2019 Texas Contemporary, HOFA Gallery, Texas, USA
2018 Contemporary Art Fair, Maddox, New York, USA
2018 Art Miami, C24 Gallery, Miami, USA
2018 Art Miami, Maddox, Miami, USA
2017 Art Miami, C24 Gallery, Miami, USA
2016 Art Miami, C24 Gallery, Miami, USA
2016 Contemporary Art Fair Istanbul, C24 Gallery, Istanbul, TUR 2016 Art New York, C24 Gallery, New York, USA
2016 Art Karlsruhe, WHITECONCEPTS, Karlsruhe, DE
2015 Contemporary Art Fair Istanbul, C24 Gallery, Istanbul, TUR
2015 Wiener Kunst- und Antiquitätenmesse, CONTEMPO Fine Art, Vienna, AT 2015 STROKE Art Fair, Munich, DE
2013 art;pul Kunstmesse, Cologne, DE
2013 ARTig, Kommandeursburg, Cologne, DE
NEWS
2019 PLAYBOY ITALIAN
2018 CONTEMPORARY ART CURATOR MAGAZINE
2017 TRANSFORMATION IN ELLE, IT
2017 ARTWELL GUIDE, JANUARY 12
2016 GQ LONDON